Z-man: This has to be some kind of record for matinees.Has it been double digits yet?

Yeah, lucky we still don’t have Spree!

Also, re: day games -the only game I ever took my daughter to was an MLK day game vs. the Charlotte Hornets. The Knicks were down like 55-27 at halftime and got booed off the court at the end. Spree had a grand total of 0 points and complained about having to get up early to play. Strangely enough, my daughter has never asked to go to another game since!

EIGHT offensive rebounds for the Pacers and the first quarter isn’t even over yet.

I don’t mean to complain, but I just can’t deal with all the offensive rebounds. It’s making this team extremely painful to watch. The Pacers are one of the worst offensive teams in the NBA and they’re shredding our defense.

I told my wife early in this game that the refs were letting them play through some rough stuff. I said at the time there might be a fight. And we nearly have had them on several occasions. Not very good officiating.

They maybe have a shot at 4 or 5 (still a stretch I think) with a healthy Gallo…if he is out for the season or for very extended period of time….as small as they are already and needing to stretch out the game for amare to work inside, I think they will be in major trouble.

D’Antoni went with the more defense-oriented lineup of Felton-Douglas-Chandler-STAT-Turiaf down the stretch and it paid off, as the Pacers only managed 15 points in the 4th quarter. It was an ugly game but the Pacers are an ugly team to play against– I can see why they’re in the top third in the NBA in defensive rating. We did not get a lot of easy shots today.

Before Gallo hurt his knee he was having an amazing game, super aggressive, getting to the line yet there were multiple time where Gallo drives, gets to the free throw line or scores and then on the next 3 or 4 trips down the court you see him hands up wanting the ball and the Knicks force it into Amare or Felton takes a quick shot and they don’t even glance Gallo’s way. The Knicks are much more dangerous when Gallo is aggresive, the Knicks need to encourage that by going back to him when he is attacking.

Indiana was playing the pick and roll hard doubling Amare and attacking Felton we need to realize this and use Amare and Felton as decoys. Too many shots forced by both Felton and Amare.

Also looking at the defensive rebounding the last couple games I think it has more to do with Amare not boxing out rather than our small lineup. Amare is a solid rebounder but he never boxes out his man.

Yeah, Ben, that was what I meant by Felton needing to dial back the scoring mentality a bit, especially when Gallo was hot. He literally went 20 minutes (of real time) without touching the ball at one point!!!

Watching him play this year, there is no doubt that he would be a Granger-like player if he played for a crappy team. You know, a borderline All-Star just because he shoots a lot. This is not to say that he would be a better player on another team, just that he could easily put up big-time scoring numbers if he were ever in a place where he actually got the ball with regularity.

But with Felton’s great efficiency numbers early on, it is easy to see why D’Antoni (and Felton) preferred Felton shooting more than Gallo. But since Felton’s recent cold streak from the outside began, he and D’Antoni have not changed the offensive approach, which is a bit odd.

Well, it’s a bit of a moot point now, as Gallo might be out for some time.

What Indiana was doing, and this is similar to Miami’s approach is clog the middle and sag slightly off the shooters and then close hard when the ball is swung outside. Since Indiana, like Miami, is a good defensive team they were for the most part able to both limit the three and clog the middle, but by closing hard it created an opportunity for Gallo to drive to the hoop. You saw a similar thing in the first game against Miami where Gallo scored a bunch of points in the first half against Miami and then got hosed by the refs in the second half but still had open lanes.

We have so many weapons we need to adjust our attack when teams take away the pnr or the three.

nice to pull that out without Gallo, hopefully he’s not out too long and hopefully Randolph gets some minutes at the back of the rotation while he is.

strange game, between all the shots that rimmed in and out (free throws too), it seemed like maybe the rims were way too tight or something. also a strange game for matchups, very odd that Hibbert and Fields got so few minutes, especially Fields when NY was having so much trouble defensive boarding.

and how odd is it to be such a good shotblocking team now, after being so bad for years before? Turiaf is a man and a half, if only he could play more minutes.

Hopefully Gallo only misses a few games- a prolonged absence would really hurt with the upcoming schedule. If he does miss time it’ll be interesting to see whether Turiaf or Williams starts in his place. It might also mean there could be an AR sighting- I’d prefer to see him get some minutes over Walker (who’s been made completely redundant by Williams).

Alan Hahn (by the way, congrats to Mr. Hahn on his Knick post-game appearance! Very impressive! Good for him – he’s one of the best Knicks beat writers out there) tweeted, “Gallinari says he’s mainly feeling discomfort in the knee. MRI tomorrow. Did not rule out playing Tues vs Spurs.”

It’s weird, I was thinking before the game that we’ve been really lucky as far as injuries, as there seems to be an epidemic around the NBA right now. I guess it was our turn; good chance for some bench guys to step up and show something.

Also, the definition of a true superstar is a player who’s having an off night making big shots down the stretch. Gotta love STAT!

Brian Cronin: Alan Hahn (by the way, congrats to Mr. Hahn on his Knick post-game appearance! Very impressive! Good for him – he’s one of the best Knicks beat writers out there) tweeted, “Gallinari says he’s mainly feeling discomfort in the knee. MRI tomorrow. Did not rule out playing Tues vs Spurs.”I like the sound of that! Come on, negative MRI!!!

He was also on the MSG postgame on Christmas, since Tripucka was doing color for the Knicks game. I was similarly impressed at the time – he looked comfortable and got his points in well. Al Trautwig took over for most of the highlight calling, which is understandable.

Also, he’s lost weight from when his Newsday mug shot was taken. He’s a pretty handsome gentleman with a stronger jawline and without the molestache.

Great to pull out the win. Missed the second half and the Gallo-drama. Hopefully he’s ok. He was really playing well too.
As good as Felton has been, he seems to have kind of a tunnel vision style. It’s hard for him now to look for anything but the p&r with Amare, to a fault. Would love for him to look for the drive and kick to Gallo more. Meanwhile, Toney’s getting better at the give and go. If he can continue to play like that, no trade for a pg will be needed.
I think MD’A is just resting Fields. He’s a rookie and has already played a full college season. I think he’s tired. He’ll probably get his 2nd legs in about 6-8 games, so a blend of Douglas at the 2 could be helpful.
Maybe we’ll see some AR soon? Curious to see where he’s at.
Side note: Knicks are interested in acquiring Casspi from the Kings? I wonder how true this stuff is or are agents just continually floating the Knicks out there for their clients…

I was at a Knick/Kings game on Jewish Heritage Night, and Casspi put on a show for much of the game. He would be a star for the Knicks. I think he’d be useful, but for who? If it’s Bill Walker, of course, but I don’t think I’d deal any of the good players for him, so I don’t see him becoming a Knick.

I looked at the remaining schedules for the Pacers, Bucks and Sixers, our main competition for the final 3 playoff spots. Seems like we have the toughest remaining schedule, especially in the next month or so. We need to beat some tough teams to keep this little cushion we built up. Hopfully that little swoon at the start of the year won’t come back to haunt us.

Any clues as to why Landry was not playing much? Just giving him a rest, I guess. No trade issues? Seems Gallo will be OK, but I read that he heard a pop, which is of concern. Amare=Dude. I thought that Turiaf was awesome tonight. (I taped the game).

I think fields was out because of matchups. Indiana went with a small back court and that may have posed a problem for 6’7 Fields.
Also, Fields has been flat the past two games. He seemed more energetic today, but he may be hitting a rookie wall.
Nothing has been said far as I can tell.

I think we can expected the Knicks to be conservative with Gallo and wait for his knee to be totally better. He’s 22. It’s not worth the risk of a further injury.

Apparently, Douglas and Amare have shoulder issues right now, which might explain why Amare seemed genuinely off today. Ronny also had his shoulder pop out apparently and then pop back. He had a funny line about it later.
Either way, this is one of the dangers about not developing the bench much. You might have to throw some players in who haven’t played in a while, or wear down some of the others in the rotation.
Looks like Williams will start for Gallo, and it would appear Walker will get some time as the eighth man.

rugged schedule coming up. This whole damn month is terrible. only good thing is the guys are getting some rest between games. You forget how many games the Knicks had to play early on.

We do have a tougher schedule than the Sixers, Bucks and Pacers but we’re a better team so staying ahead of them shouldn’t really be all that hard. The tough schedule will however make it hard to pass Chicago, Atlanta or Orlando to move up but honestly I am okay with the 6th seed and a first round matchup with either Chicago or Orlando. I think we match up well with both teams in a seven game series.

I really hope Gallo is not out long he is an important part of our lineup and his continued development is key to us taking the next step as a team. As for Landry I hope the short leash and limited minutes is temporary, he helps us alot on the boards and without him playing major minutes we are going to get outrebounded even more.

Casspi would be a nice pickup but I agree with Brian I don’t see who we could trade for him, I put his value as greater than Walker or Shawne but alot less than Randolph or Gallo. Douglas and Mozgov both have similar value but both play more desireable positions and I would rather have either of them than Casspi.

If it were an option, I’d deal Mozgov for Casspi, even if Casspi doesn’t serve a particular need, if only because he’s a lot more marketable of an asset than Mozgov, but I think the Kings are only shopping Casspi to get something worthwhile (like a draft pick).

No, they just get three of the top four seeds. A division winner can be seeded below another team if their record is worse than that other team (that is designed for precisely the situation we have now with Orlando and Miami).

Do note that the #4 seed does not get home court if they have a worse record than the #5 seed, so, really, a division winner is effectively only guaranteed a #5 seed.

Z-man: I looked at the remaining schedules for the Pacers, Bucks and Sixers, our main competition for the final 3 playoff spots.Seems like we have the toughest remaining schedule, especially in the next month or so.

Bucks are most likely to catch us from behind – not only are they the best of that group, they’ve played the toughest schedule in the league, meaning their remaining sked is the easiest.

The Knicks have played the 3rd easiest schedule in the league, so it’s no mirage – the rest of our schedule is close to the toughest.

Pacers and Sixers are right in the middle.

I think the Knicks will improve as the season goes on, with such a young roster – players are still growing. And the team took a while to gel. On the other hand, we’ve been mostly injury-free, so there’s nowhere to go but down in that regard. Getting Randolph and/or Azubuike in the mix would be one way to improve.

If I had to guess, Azubuike won’t be healthy enough to do much and D’Antoni will keep up his anti-Randolph grudge all year. If I had to guess I’d say the Knicks are on an arc to 42, 43 wins. #6 or 7 seed.

Brian Cronin: No, they just get three of the top four seeds. A division winner can be seeded below another team if their record is worse than that other team (that is designed for precisely the situation we have now with Orlando and Miami). Do note that the #4 seed does not get home court if they have a worse record than the #5 seed, so, really, a division winner is effectively only guaranteed a #5 seed. (Quote)

Man, if this team was completely healthy, and Anthony Randolph figured out how to play within himself, we would probably be better than both Atlanta and Chicago. The moves Donnie Walsh made this offseason were nothing short of brilliant. Too bad things don’t always work out.

Ryan Anderson was drafted the same year as randolph and is only a year older. He’s big enough to play center and is a career 36.5% 3pt shooter. I think Orlando would prefer to have a backup center who can clog the middle a little better, and Denver is looking at a rebuild, so a young asset for a long term contract might sound nice to them.

They could just trade Ryan Anderson for Chris Andersen, but Orlando doesn’t have the expiring contract to make salaries match, so we step in as a sort of intermediary and take on Q-Rich’s contract as the price of getting involved.

Latke- That’s not a bad trade at all- Anderson’s a solid big who you’d think D’Antoni would have no qualms about playing. He’s not a great defender or rebounder but he’s at least average at both and he can shoot the three. I think Orlando would do it, I’m not sure Denver would- they haven’t seemed interested in AR as part of a package for Melo. I would like to see AR get some consistent minutes before we give up on him, however. I don’t think his trade value can get a whole lot lower than it is right now and if he even shows flashes of what he did at Golden State his value could rise back up to where it was over the summer (where you might have gotten a pick in the 12-16 range for him.

A big who can hit threes would help us alot but I’m with nicos I would not trade Randolph at this point. I think we are giving up on him and I wouldn’t trade him for anything less than a top 10 pick, which of course no one would give us. He is too much of an unknown to toss away so easily.

He might not pan out but he showed enough in GS that I wouldn’t trade him for bench role players at this point. We can get a player of Ryan Anderson’s caliber pretty easily, either through the draft or free agency. Three point shooting bigs always fall in the draft.

We are not winning anything this year I say we at least give Randolph the season to see if he can bring something. I think he will eventually make it into the rotation.

As Ben mentioned, I think Randolph has more trade value than Ryan Anderson plus filler, but not only that, I don’t think Orlando is looking to move Ryan Anderson at all, at least not for a player like Randolph who would not give them immediate burn (even if he is likely a superior talent), as Anderson has become too important to them following the Gortat trade (he’s averaging over 20 minutes a game since the deal).

Ryan Anderson is a good player and has great range-but I think the Magic need him pretty badly now that they play Bass as the starter at the 4, and no longer have Lewis, as a stretch 4.
Also,I agree with the others who hope AR gets an actual real opportunity here, and would not trade him for Anderson.
So, I think that trade is a no from both sides.
And I never want to see QRich in a Knick uniform again at any price, under any circumstances-talk about a loser mentality…nOOOOOOO